Printed tag real-time tracking

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are various embodiments for flexible, low-cost tracking devices capable of seamless indoor and outdoor tracking transitions. A tracking device may comprise, for example, circuitry combined with one or more transceivers on a flexible substrate. At least a portion of the circuitry may be printed using a conductive medium, such as nanoparticle ink. The tracking device may be configured to localize the tracking device via GPS or an alternative localization strategy based on a determination of whether GPS communication is available.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of andpriority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/799,272 entitled“PRINTED TAG REAL-TIME TRACKING,” filed on Mar. 13, 2013, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Tracking devices are used today to monitor the location of people orthings in real-time. Yet, tracking devices remain relatively costly, addnotable weight to devices in which they are implemented, and/or take upvaluable space in devices in which they are implemented. Interfacingwith user-friendly frameworks for the provision of tracking devicelocations to an end-user remains burdensome. Moreover, integratedtraceability in indoor as well as outdoor situations remainsproblematic.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Many aspects of the present disclosure can be better understood withreference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings arenot necessarily to scale, with emphasis instead being placed uponclearly illustrating the principles of the disclosure. Moreover, in thedrawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding partsthroughout the several views.

FIGS. 1A-B are drawings of individual components that may be employed increating a tracking device.

FIG. 2 is a drawing of the individual components of FIGS. 1A-B that maybe combined as layered components to create a tracking device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram that provides one exampleillustration of a tracking device according to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a drawing of a networked environment in communication with thetracking device of FIG. 3 according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a drawing of an example of a user interface rendered by aclient in the networked environment of FIG. 4 according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating one example of functionalityimplemented as portions of the tracking device executed in a computingdevice in the networked environment of FIG. 4 according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating one example of functionalityimplemented as portions of a location determination application and/or adevice monitoring service executed in a computing device in thenetworked environment of FIG. 4 according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram that provides one exampleillustration of a computing device employed in the networked environmentof FIG. 4 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure relates to providing an end-to-end system forproviding and/or monitoring tracking devices as well as a trackingdevice for use in the system. As may be appreciated, tracking devicesare used today to monitor the location of people or things in real-time.Yet, tracking devices remain relatively costly, add notable weight todevices in which they are implemented, and/or take up valuable space indevices in which they are implemented. For example, tracking devices mayrequire circuitry that is bulky or burdensome. Damage to the trackingdevices requires replacement of the tracking devices which may presentan undue expense. Typically, infrastructure capable of interacting withtracking devices require expensive infrastructure placement atrelatively proximate intervals. For example, radio-frequencyidentification (RFID) tracking devices require RFID readers every somany feet. Further, provision of a user-friendly monitoring interfacecapable of seamless traceability in outdoor as well as indoorenvironments remains problematic.

For example, by utilizing printable circuitry, the cost of constructinga tracking device may be drastically reduced. Low cost fabricationmethods may be used for the tracking devices such as reel-to-reel orroll-to-roll printing. In addition, environment friendly materials maybe used.

Moreover, implementing one or more forms of localization and/orcommunication may utilize existing infrastructure (e.g., globalpositioning system (GPS), wireless access points, Bluetooth devices,etc.) while providing redundancy and reliability. Implementing one ormore forms of localization and/or communication can also providetracking across difference environments, such as indoor and outdoorenvironments. In the following discussion, a general description of thesystem and its components is provided, followed by a discussion of theoperation of the same.

With reference to FIG. 1A, shown are the components of an exemplarytracking device for use in the present system. The tracking device maybe printed using, for example, an inkjet printer. In the non-limitingexample of FIG. 1A, a printed tracking device may comprise a circuit 103printed on a substrate 106, one or more antennas 109 printed on asubstrate 112, and a battery 115. A substrate 106 for circuitry and/or asubstrate 112 for antennas 109 may comprise, for example, paper,plastic, silicon, polymer, or other material. As may be appreciated, acircuit and/or antenna may be printed using relatively inexpensiveinkjet and/or screen printing technology. For example, an inkjet printermay utilize conductive ink to print a complete and/or partial circuit ona substrate, the circuit capable of being combined with additionalcircuitry. Conductive ink may comprise, for example, ink comprisingconductive nanoparticles, nanotubes, and/or other conductive materialssuch as gold, silver, copper, silicon, and/or any combination thereof.As may be appreciated, various paper and/or plastic substrates may beused to flex and/or bend without damaging the circuit, and may beselected to be environmentally friendly. In the case of an inkjetprinter, the thickness of the substrate may be selected for use in theprinter.

In order to power a lightweight, flexible, and minimal tracking device,a battery 115 may comprise, for example, a flexible battery. A flexiblebattery, for example, may be capable of being folded or bended withoutcompromising the integrity of the battery. Such batteries may be printedusing nanotube ink or may be commercially available (e.g., flexiblelithium-ion, flexible nickel-cadmium batteries, etc.). When combinedwith flexible circuitry, the combination of the circuitry 103 and thebattery 115 may also be capable of being folded or bended withoutcompromising the integrity of a tracking device. Alternatively, atracking device may comprise any other power source in lieu of a battery115. Additionally, a battery 115 may be combined with various rechargingcircuitry (not shown). Recharging circuitry, for example, may comprise asolar panel, perpetual motion recharging circuitry, and/or otherrecharging circuitry.

With reference to FIG. 1B, shown is an exemplary antenna 109 of FIG. 1Athat may be deployed in a tracking device. As discussed above withrespect to FIG. 1A, an antenna 109 may be created by printing theantenna 109 using an inkjet printer, screen printing, and/or any likemethod. Moreover, the antenna 109 may be printed on a substrate 112 thatmay comprise, for example, paper, plastic, silicon, and/or any othermaterial also as discussed above. The antenna 109 may be printed to beright-hand circularly polarized (CP). CP may be achieved by exciting twoorthogonal field components with equal magnitude and a 90 degree phasedifference. In the non-limiting example of FIG. 1B, the two orthogonalfield components are excited via asymmetry or a perturbation in theantenna structure. For example, an L-shaped absence 118 is introduced inthe rectangular monopole structure 121 to achieve circular polarization.

With reference to FIG. 2, shown are the layers of an exemplary trackingdevice 203 created using the components of FIGS. 1A-B. In thenon-limiting example of FIG. 2, a tracking device 203 may comprise acircuit 103 printed on a substrate 106, one or more antennas 109 printedon a substrate 112, and a battery 115. In one embodiment, the circuit103 printed on a substrate 106 may be combined with one or morelocalization and/or communications systems, wherein a system maycomprise, for example, receivers, transmitters, transceivers, and/orother localization and/or communication circuitry. For example, thecircuit 103 may be combined with receiver 206 and receiver 209 toconfigure the tracking device 203 to localize and/or communicate viaGPS, Wi-Fi, Radiofrequency (RF), Ultrasonic, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, ZigBee,and/or any other localization and/or communication technology. Incertain embodiments, receiver 206 and receiver 209 may represent thesame physical circuitry capable of providing communication as well aslocalization. For instance, a receiver 206 and a receiver 209 may bothcomprise a Wi-Fi transceiver. By using paper substrates, a circuit 103may be combined with one or more antennas 109 and a battery 115 tocreate a durable and lightweight tracking device 203 capable ofinexpensive reproduction. The layers of the individual components of thetracking device 203 of FIG. 2 may be combined to form a uniform trackingdevice 203.

With reference to FIG. 3, shown is an exemplary circuit block diagramfor a tracking device 203. A tracking device 203, for example, maycomprise a battery 115 (or alternative power source), antennas 109, amicrocontroller 303, and a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) connector306. As discussed above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2, a battery 115 mayinclude a flexible battery ensuring the tracking device 203 is capableof being bent or folded. Antennas 109 are configured to provide thetracking device 203 and its components with localization and/orcommunication. A SIM connector 306 is configured to facilitate theaddition of portable electronics or other circuitry to the trackingdevice 203. As a non-limiting example, a SIM card may be used permittinga mobile communications system to identify the tracking device 203 basedon the data residing within the SIM card (e.g., a unique tracking deviceidentifier). A microcontroller 303 may be configured to coordinate amongthe components of the tracking device 203, as may be appreciated.

Moreover, a tracking device 203 may comprise one or morereceivers/transceivers capable of localization and/or communication viaone or more forms of communication. In the non-limiting example of FIG.3, a tracking device 203 may comprise a GPS receiver 309 and Wi-Fitransceiver 312. As will be discussed in greater detail below, a Wi-Fitransceiver 312 may be to localize the tracking device 203 in the eventGPS is unavailable to do so (e.g., the tracking device 203 is unable toreceive a signal from a GPS system or an acquired signal fails toresolve to an acceptable fix). Although shown utilizing a Wi-Fitransceiver 312 and a GPS receiver 309, other receivers and/ortransceivers may be utilized, permitting the tracking device 203 tolocalize via alternative localization strategies using technologies suchas RF, Ultrasonic, Z-wave, ZigBee, Bluetooth, and/or any other form oflocalization and/or communication. The tracking device 203 may thuscommunicate with the present tracking system across multiple, differingenvironments, such as indoor and outdoor environments.

With reference to FIG. 4, shown is a networked environment 400 accordingto various embodiments. The networked environment 400 includes acomputing device 403, a client device 406, and/or access points 408,which are in data communication with each other via a network 409. Thenetwork 409 includes, for example, the Internet, intranets, extranets,wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), wired networks,wireless networks, or other suitable networks, etc., or any combinationof two or more such networks. Access points 408 may include, forexample, wireless access points 408 that may be used to facilitatecommunication between a tracking device 203 and the network 409.Alternatively, access points 408 may comprise one or more cell sitesthat facilitate the communication of the tracking device 203 over one ormore cellular networks. Such cellular networks may be capable ofcommunicating, for example, via Code Division Multiple Access (CMDA),Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and/or any variationthereof. Utilizing a GSM network, general packet radio service (GPRS)services may be used for communication between the access points 408 andthe one or more tracking devices 203. In various embodiments, a trackingdevice 203 may be capable of communication directly with the network 409without access points 408 and/or computing device 403 and/or clientdevice 406, as may be appreciated.

The computing device 403 may comprise, for example, a server computer orany other system providing computing capability. Alternatively, thecomputing device 403 may employ a plurality of computing devices 403that may be employed that are arranged, for example, in one or moreserver banks or computer banks or other arrangements. Such computingdevices 403 may be located in a single installation or may bedistributed among many different geographical locations. For example,the computing device 403 may include a plurality of computing devicesthat together may comprise a cloud computing resource, a grid computingresource, and/or any other distributed computing arrangement. In somecases, the computing device 403 may correspond to an elastic computingresource where the allotted capacity of processing, network, storage, orother computing-related resources may vary over time.

Various applications and/or other functionality may be executed in thecomputing device 403 according to various embodiments. Also, variousdata is stored in a data store 412 that is accessible to the computingdevice 403. The data store 412 may be representative of a plurality ofdata stores 412 as can be appreciated. The data stored in the data store412, for example, is associated with the operation of the variousapplications and/or functional entities described below.

The components executed on the computing device 403, for example,include a location determination application 415, a device monitoringservice 418, and other applications, services, processes, systems,engines, or functionality not discussed in detail herein.

The location determination application 415 is executed to determine thelocation of one or more tracking devices 203, as will be discussed ingreater detail below. For example, location data 421 may be receivedfrom one or more tracking devices 203 via any form of communicationcapable of providing location data 421 associated with the one or moretracking devices 203. The location of the one or more tracking devices203 may be determined based at least in part on the location data 421provided by the tracking device 203.

The device monitoring service 418 is executed to provide an interfacethereby permitting a user to monitor one or more tracking devices 203.For example, the device monitoring service 418 may obtain location data421 from the location determination application 415. Subsequently, thelocation data 421 may be transmitted by the device monitoring service418 to one or more mapping application programming interfaces (API). Inresponse, a digital map comprising one or more indicators (e.g., anicon) identifying the location of one or more tracking devices 203 onthe digital map may be received by the device monitoring service 418.This map may be encoded in a user interface 472 (e.g., a network page, amobile application page, etc.) and transmitted to a client 406 (FIG. 4)for rendering.

The device monitoring service 418 may be further executed toauthenticate a user (i.e., requiring a user to provide a user name,password, biometric data, etc.) prior to presenting and/or transmittinginformation associated with the tracking devices 203. As a result, onlyinformation pertaining to tracking devices 203 associated with anaccount or user ID 436 may be presented to that user.

The data stored in the data store 412 includes, for example, locationdata 421, network data 424, Wi-Fi data 427, GPS data 430, deviceidentifier (ID) 433, user ID 436, radio maps 439, and potentially otherdata. Location data 421 may comprise, for example, data obtained fromone or more tracking devices 203 that may be related to and/or may beused in determining the location of the one or more tracking devices203. Moreover, location data 421 may comprise a position database of alltracking devices 203, whether functional or non-functional. Network data424 may be information related to frames and/or packets of informationtransferred over network 409. Wi-Fi data 427 may comprise informationassociated with utilizing wireless access points 408 to determine alocation of a tracking device 203. GPS data 430 may comprise informationobtained by a tracking device 203 configured to localize via GPS. Adevice ID 433 may be, for example, a unique identifier used to identifya tracking device 203 and/or a group of tracking devices 203. A radiomap 439 may comprise, for example, an RF signature map and/or an RFsignature map history. A radio map 439 may further comprise associationsto points in a digital map.

The client 406 is representative of a plurality of client devices thatmay be coupled to the network 409. The client 406 may comprise, forexample, a processor-based system such as a computer system. Such acomputer system may be embodied in the form of a desktop computer, alaptop computer, personal digital assistants, cellular telephones,smartphones, set-top boxes, music players, web pads, tablet computersystems, game consoles, electronic book readers, or other devices withlike capability. The client 406 may include a display 466. The display466 may comprise, for example, one or more devices such as liquidcrystal display (LCD) displays, gas plasma-based flat panel displays,organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, LCD projectors, or othertypes of display devices, etc.

The client 406 may be configured to execute various applications such asa client application 469 and/or other applications. The clientapplication 469 may be executed in a client 406, for example, to accessnetwork content served up by the computing device 403 and/or otherservers, thereby rendering a user interface 472 on the display 466. Tothis end, the client application 469 may comprise, for example, abrowser, a dedicated application, etc., and the user interface 472 maycomprise a network page, an application screen, etc. The client 406 maybe configured to execute applications beyond the client application 469such as, for example, email applications, social networkingapplications, word processors, spreadsheets, and/or other applications.

The tracking device 203 is representative of a plurality of trackingdevices 203 that may be coupled to the network 409 or may localizeand/or communicate through network 409 via access points 408. Moreover,a tracking device 203 may be configured to receive signals comprisinglocation data 421 and/or other communication data from GPS 483. Thetracking device 203 may comprise, for example, the components of FIG. 2to communicate with network 409 via Wi-Fi, Ultrasonic, Infrared, RF,Bluetooth, Z-wave, ZigBee, and/or any wireless communication technology.These components may include one or more receivers 486, transceivers,transmitters, and/or other communication circuitry. Alternatively, atracking device 203 may comprise one or more of a commercially availabletracking device 203, as may be appreciated.

An access point 408 may be configured to receive communication from oneor more tracking devices 203, translate the communication received intoa form of communication (e.g., data packets) capable of beingcommunicated over network 409, and transmit the communication to, forexample, computing device 403 and/or client 406. Furthermore, a trackingdevice 203 may comprise an identifier 489 which may be communicatedthrough network 409 in order to identify the tracking device 203, as maybe appreciated. For example, an identifier 489 may be unique to atracking device 203.

Next, a general description of the operation of the various componentsof the networked environment 400 is provided. To begin, the locationdetermination application 415 may determine the location of one or moretracking devices 203. For example, location data 421 may be receivedfrom one or more tracking devices 203. Location data 421 may be obtainedvia GPS or any alternative form of wireless communication such as Wi-Fi.If the location data 421 was obtained through a GPS receiver, locationdata 421 may comprise, for example, data that may be processed in orderto determine a location of the tracking device 203. Alternatively, inthe event localization through GPS was unable to be established by atracking device 203, a tracking device 203 may have obtained locationdata 421 from one or more wireless access points 408. The location data421 may be transmitted by the tracking device 203 to the computingdevice 403 over network 409 by utilizing the access points 408, or likedevices. Accordingly, the location data 421 received from the trackingdevice 203 may be used in the determination of a location of thetracking device 203. The location determined may be based at least inpart on the location data 421 provided by the tracking device 203. Inaddition, other data may be used in determining the location such asradio maps 439, etc.

For example, location data 421 may have been obtained via a Wi-Fireceiver embedded in a tracking device 203. In this non-limitingexample, Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) methodologies may beused in determining the location of the tracking device 203 by measuringthe power of a received signal, usually measured in decibels (dB) of themeasured power referenced against one milliwatt (mW). Such RSSImethodologies may include RSSI triangulation and/or RSSI fingerprinting.RSSI triangulation may comprise triangulating a location of a trackingdevice 203 using omnidirectional access points 408 in order to determinecoordinates of a transceiver embedded within the tracking device 203.

In RSSI fingerprinting, one or more radio maps 439 may be used tocompare geo-reference RSSI measurements (i.e., fingerprints) from one ormore access points 408, or from the tracking device 203 itself, duringan “online phase.” The RSSI measurements may be compared to one or moreradio maps 439 to estimate a location of the tracking device 203 basedat least in part on the RSSI measurements. A probability distributionfunction may be applied to determine the highest probability location ofthe tracking device 203. During an “offline phase” RSSI measurements maybe used to create radio maps 439, although radio maps 439 may bemanually created using alternative technology (e.g., radar, sonar,etc.).

RSSI fingerprinting traditionally observes RSSI measurements of atracking device 203 measured against three or more access points 408. Afinal location may be determined by applying Gaussian mixture models,Markov models, hidden Markov models, etc. against a radio map 439 todetermine one location of the tracking device 203 with the highestprobability. However, three or more locations of the tracking device 203may be observed against the three or more access points 408. The threeor more locations may be fused to determine a final location utilizing,for example, a Euclidean, Rule based, GMM, Markov models, hidden Markovmodels, etc., classification algorithm.

Although described in an embodiment specific to Wi-Fi based accesspoints 408, alternative technologies may be used to conduct RSSIfingerprinting. Technologies that may utilize RSSI fingerprinting mayinclude GSM, CDMA, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, ZigBee, RF, Ultrasonic, etc.Similarly, although described with respect to RSSI other measurementsmay be utilized in place of or in combination with RSSI in determining afingerprint of a tracking device 203 such as time of arrival (TOA),angle of arrival (AOA), time difference of arrival (TDOA), uplink-timedifference of arrival (U-TDOA), and/or any combination thereof.

Upon determining the location of one or more tracking devices 203, thelocation determination application 415 may store the location data 421,and/or the location itself, in data store 412 in association with atracking device 203 or its identifier 489. Accordingly, the locationdata 421 may be used in determining the location of a tracking device203 over time, paths traveled, places visited, length of time in alocation, etc.

The device monitoring service 418 is executed to provide an interfacethereby permitting a user to monitor one or more tracking devices 203.For example, the device monitoring service 418 may obtain location data421 from the location determination application 415. Subsequently, thelocation data 421 may be transmitted by the device monitoring service418 to a mapping API such as Google® Maps, Bing® Maps, Yahoo!® Maps,AOL® MapQuest, and/or any other mapping API. In response, a mapcomprising an indicator (e.g., an icon) identifying the location oftracking device 203 on a map may be received by the device monitoringservice 418. This map may be encoded in a user interface 472 (e.g., anetwork page, a mobile application page, etc.) and transmitted to aclient 406 (FIG. 4) for rendering. The user interface 472 may compriseadditional information about the tracking devices 203 such as geocodedaddresses, duration at a location, routes traveled, and/or any otherinformation about the tracking devices 203.

The device monitoring service 418 may require authentication from a user(i.e., requiring a user to provide a user name, password, biometricdata, etc.) prior to presenting and/or transmitting informationassociated with the tracking devices 203. Accordingly, a unique useraccount or user ID 436, used during authentication, may be associatedwith one or more tracking devices 203. As a result, only informationpertaining to tracking devices 203 associated with an account or user ID436 may be presented to that user.

Referring next to FIG. 5, shown is an exemplary embodiment of a userinterface 472 rendered in a client application 469, for example, on aclient 406 (not shown). In the non-limiting example of FIG. 5, thedevice monitoring service 418 (FIG. 4) may render a user interface 472,embodied in FIG. 5 as a network page, comprising a digital map 503. Asdiscussed above with respect to FIG. 4, determined locations of trackingdevices 203 (not shown) may be transmitted to one or more mappingservices by communicating, for example, through the mapping service'sAPI. In return, the mapping service provides the device monitoringservice 418 a digital map 503 comprising the determined locations thatmay be identified with an icon. The device monitoring service 418 mayencode the digital map 503 in a network page to be transmitted to aclient 406 for rendering. Additionally, the digital map 503 may beupdated in real-time by making subsequent calls to the one or moremapping services upon a request by a user or upon the occurrence of apredefined condition. For example, the digital map 503 may be updatedand/or re-rendered upon a predefined delay and/or upon noticeablemovement of a tracking device 203.

Moreover, information associated with the tracking devices 203 may beencoded in the user interface 472. For example, an address 506 of eachtracking device 203 may be determined utilizing geocoding or liketechnique. Additionally, statistics associated with the location of thetracking device 203 also may be determined and encoded in the networkpage. For example, a time in a location metric 509 may be encoded in thenetwork page to show a length of time a tracking device 203 has remainedin a particular position or range of positions.

As may be appreciated, the device monitoring service 418 may requireauthentication (i.e., requiring a user to provide a user name, password,biometric data, etc.) before presenting and/or transmitting informationassociated with the tracking devices 203. Accordingly, a user account oruser ID 436 (FIG. 4), used during authentication, may be associated withone or more tracking devices 203. As a result, only informationpertaining to tracking devices 203 associated with an account or user ID436 may be presented.

Turning now to FIG. 6, shown is a flowchart that provides one example ofthe operation of a portion of the tracking device 203 according tovarious embodiments. It is understood that the flowchart of FIG. 6provides merely an example of the many different types of functionalarrangements that may be employed to implement the operation of thetracking device 203 as described herein. As an alternative, theflowchart of FIG. 6 may be viewed as depicting an example of steps of amethod implemented in the computing device 403 (FIG. 4) according to oneor more embodiments.

Beginning with box 603, a determination is made whether the trackingdevice 203 is able to localize via GPS. For example, a GPS receiverembedded in the tracking device 203 may attempt to receive one or moresignals from one or more satellites. When indoors or in congested areasor in other similar environments, GPS signals may be inhibited. Thus,the GPS receiver embedded in the tracking device 203 may be unable toreceive signals from any GPS satellite. If a tracking device 203 via itsGPS receiver is able to localize (e.g., obtain location data 421 via asignal) from a GPS satellite, in box 606, GPS may be used in obtaininglocation data 421. When using a GPS receiver, location data 421 maycomprise, for example, data from the signal obtained from one or moreGPS satellites as well as data used in computing a location of thetracking device 203.

Alternatively, if a tracking device 203 is unable to localize via GPS,in box 609, an alternative localization strategy may be attempted toobtain location data. An alternative localization strategy may comprise,for example, using Wi-Fi, RF, Ultrasonic, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, ZigBee, orany other technology to localize the tracking device 203. In oneembodiment, Wi-Fi may be used in order to obtain location data 421. Oneor more receivers may be embedded in a tracking device 203 capable ofcommunicating via one or more of these technologies, as may beappreciated. For example, a Wi-Fi receiver embedded on the trackingdevice 203 may attempt communication with one or more Wi-Fi wirelessaccess points 408. As may be appreciated, other receivers may beembedded in the event a GPS signal or Wi-Fi signal is unable to beobtained and/or communication established.

By localizing via Wi-Fi (or any alternative form of localization) in theevent GPS is unavailable, a tracking device 203 may be capable of aseamless transition for outdoor to indoor tracking and vice versa.Ultimately, in box 612, the location data 421 obtained via GPS (box 606)or the alternative localization strategy (box 609) may be transmittedto, for example, a computing device 403 (FIG. 4). The location data 421may be processed in the computing device 403 to determine a location ofthe tracking device 203, as will be discussed in greater detail below.

Moving on to FIG. 7, shown is a flowchart that provides one example ofthe operation of a portion of the location determination application 415and/or the device monitoring service 418 according to variousembodiments. It is understood that the flowchart of FIG. 7 providesmerely an example of the many different types of functional arrangementsthat may be employed to implement the operation of the portion of thelocation determination application 415 and/or the device monitoringservice 418 as described herein. As an alternative, the flowchart ofFIG. 7 may be viewed as depicting an example of steps of a methodimplemented in the computing device 403 (FIG. 4) according to one ormore embodiments.

Beginning with box 703, location data 421 may be received from one ormore tracking devices 203. As discussed above with respect to FIG. 6,location data 421 may be obtained via GPS or any alternative form oflocalization. If the location data 421 was obtained through a GPSreceiver, location data 421 may comprise, for example, data that may beprocessed in order to determine a location of the tracking device 203.Alternatively, in the event localization through GPS was unable to beestablished by a tracking device 203, a tracking device 203 may haveobtained location data 421 from one or more wireless access points. Thelocation data 421 may be transmitted by the tracking device 203 to acomputing device 403 (FIG. 4) over network 409 (FIG. 4) by utilizing thewireless access points 408, or like devices.

In box 706, the location data 421 received from the tracking device 203may be used to determine a location of the tracking device 203. Thelocation determined may be based at least in part on the location data421 provided by the tracking device 203. In addition, other data may beused in determining the location such as radio maps 439 (FIG. 4), etc.

For example, location data 421 may have been obtained via a Wi-Fireceiver embedded in a tracking device 203. In one embodiment, ReceivedSignal Strength Indicator (RSSI) methodologies may be used indetermining the location of the tracking device 203 by measuring thepower of a received signal. The RSSI methodologies may include RSSItriangulation and/or RSSI fingerprinting. As discussed above withrespect to FIG. 4, three or more locations of the tracking device 203may be observed against three or more access points 408. The three ormore locations may be fused to determine a final location utilizing GMM,Morkov models, etc. rather than the traditional RSSI fingerprintingapproach.

Next, in box 709, the location data 421, and/or the location itself, maybe stored in data store 412 (FIG. 4) in association with a trackingdevice 203 or its identifier 489 (FIG. 4). Accordingly, the locationdata 421 may be used in determining the location of a tracking device203 over time, paths traveled, places visited, etc.

In box 712, the location data 421 may be transmitted to a mapping APIsuch as Google® Maps, Bing® Maps, Yahoo!® Maps, AOL® MapQuest, and/orany other mapping API. As may be appreciated, the location determined inbox 706 of a tracking device 203 (or many locations of many trackingdevices 203), may be transmitted to the mapping API. In response, a mapsuch as a digital map comprising an indicator (e.g., an icon)identifying the location of tracking device 203 on a map may bereceived, in box 715. In box 718, this map may be encoded in a userinterface (e.g., a network page, a mobile application page, etc.).Finally, in box 721, the user interface 472 may be transmitted to aclient 406 (FIG. 4) for rendering.

With reference to FIG. 8, shown is a schematic block diagram of thecomputing device 403 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The computing device 403 includes one or more computingdevices 403. Each computing device 403 includes at least one processorcircuit, for example, having a processor 803 and a memory 806, both ofwhich are coupled to a local interface 809. To this end, each computingdevice 403 may comprise, for example, at least one server computer orlike device. The local interface 809 may comprise, for example, a databus with an accompanying address/control bus or other bus structure ascan be appreciated.

Stored in the memory 806 are both data and several components that areexecutable by the processor 803. In particular, stored in the memory 806and executable by the processor 803 are a location determinationapplication 415, a device monitoring service 418, and potentially otherapplications. Also stored in the memory 806 may be a data store 412 andother data. In addition, an operating system may be stored in the memory806 and executable by the processor 803.

It is understood that there may be other applications that are stored inthe memory 806 and are executable by the processor 803 as can beappreciated. Where any component discussed herein is implemented in theform of software, any one of a number of programming languages may beemployed such as, for example, C, C++, C#, Objective C, Java®,JavaScript®, Perl, PHP, Visual Basic®, Python®, Ruby, Flash®, or otherprogramming languages.

A number of software components are stored in the memory 806 and areexecutable by the processor 803. In this respect, the term “executable”means a program file that is in a form that can ultimately be run by theprocessor 803. Examples of executable programs may be, for example, acompiled program that can be translated into machine code in a formatthat can be loaded into a random access portion of the memory 806 andrun by the processor 803, source code that may be expressed in properformat such as object code that is capable of being loaded into a randomaccess portion of the memory 806 and executed by the processor 803, orsource code that may be interpreted by another executable program togenerate instructions in a random access portion of the memory 806 to beexecuted by the processor 803, etc. An executable program may be storedin any portion or component of the memory 806 including, for example,random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard drive,solid-state drive, USB flash drive, memory card, optical disc such ascompact disc (CD) or digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, magnetictape, or other memory components.

The memory 806 is defined herein as including both volatile andnonvolatile memory and data storage components. Volatile components arethose that do not retain data values upon loss of power. Nonvolatilecomponents are those that retain data upon a loss of power. Thus, thememory 806 may comprise, for example, random access memory (RAM),read-only memory (ROM), hard disk drives, solid-state drives, USB flashdrives, memory cards accessed via a memory card reader, floppy disksaccessed via an associated floppy disk drive, optical discs accessed viaan optical disc drive, magnetic tapes accessed via an appropriate tapedrive, and/or other memory components, or a combination of any two ormore of these memory components. In addition, the RAM may comprise, forexample, static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM), or magnetic random access memory (MRAM) and other suchdevices. The ROM may comprise, for example, a programmable read-onlymemory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), anelectrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or otherlike memory device.

Also, the processor 803 may represent multiple processors 803 and/ormultiple processor cores and the memory 806 may represent multiplememories 806 that operate in parallel processing circuits, respectively.In such a case, the local interface 809 may be an appropriate networkthat facilitates communication between any two of the multipleprocessors 803, between any processor 803 and any of the memories 806,or between any two of the memories 806, etc. The local interface 809 maycomprise additional systems designed to coordinate this communication,including, for example, performing load balancing. The processor 803 maybe of electrical or of some other available construction.

Although the location determination application 415, the devicemonitoring service 418, and other various systems described herein maybe embodied in software or code executed by general purpose hardware asdiscussed above, as an alternative the same may also be embodied indedicated hardware or a combination of software/general purpose hardwareand dedicated hardware. If embodied in dedicated hardware, each can beimplemented as a circuit or state machine that employs any one of or acombination of a number of technologies. These technologies may include,but are not limited to, discrete logic circuits having logic gates forimplementing various logic functions upon an application of one or moredata signals, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) havingappropriate logic gates, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), orother components, etc. Such technologies are generally well known bythose skilled in the art and, consequently, are not described in detailherein.

The flowcharts of FIGS. 6 and 7 show the functionality and operation ofan implementation of portions of the tracking device 203, the locationdetermination application 415, and the device monitoring service 418. Ifembodied in software, each block may represent a module, segment, orportion of code that comprises program instructions to implement thespecified logical function(s). The program instructions may be embodiedin the form of source code that comprises human-readable statementswritten in a programming language or machine code that comprisesnumerical instructions recognizable by a suitable execution system suchas a processor 803 in a computer system or other system. The machinecode may be converted from the source code, etc. If embodied inhardware, each block may represent a circuit or a number ofinterconnected circuits to implement the specified logical function(s).

Although the flowcharts of FIGS. 6 and 7 show a specific order ofexecution, it is understood that the order of execution may differ fromthat which is depicted. For example, the order of execution of two ormore blocks may be scrambled relative to the order shown. Also, two ormore blocks shown in succession in FIGS. 6 and 7 may be executedconcurrently or with partial concurrence. Further, in some embodiments,one or more of the blocks shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 may be skipped oromitted. In addition, any number of counters, state variables, warningsemaphores, or messages might be added to the logical flow describedherein, for purposes of enhanced utility, accounting, performancemeasurement, or providing troubleshooting aids, etc. It is understoodthat all such variations are within the scope of the present disclosure.

Also, any logic or application described herein, including the locationdetermination application 415 and the device monitoring service 418,that comprises software or code can be embodied in any non-transitorycomputer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instructionexecution system such as, for example, a processor 803 in a computersystem or other system. In this sense, the logic may comprise, forexample, statements including instructions and declarations that can befetched from the computer-readable medium and executed by theinstruction execution system. In the context of the present disclosure,a “computer-readable medium” can be any medium that can contain, store,or maintain the logic or application described herein for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system.

The computer-readable medium can comprise any one of many physical mediasuch as, for example, magnetic, optical, or semiconductor media. Morespecific examples of a suitable computer-readable medium would include,but are not limited to, magnetic tapes, magnetic floppy diskettes,magnetic hard drives, memory cards, solid-state drives, USB flashdrives, or optical discs. Also, the computer-readable medium may be arandom access memory (RAM) including, for example, static random accessmemory (SRAM) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or magneticrandom access memory (MRAM). In addition, the computer-readable mediummay be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM),an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electricallyerasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or other type of memorydevice.

It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of thepresent disclosure are merely possible examples of implementations setforth for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure.Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-describedembodiment(s) without departing substantially from the spirit andprinciples of the disclosure. All such modifications and variations areintended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure andprotected by the following claims.

Therefore, the following is claimed:
 1. A tracking device, comprising: afirst layer comprising a first circuit, the first circuit comprising alocalization system and a communication system, the localization systembeing configured to obtain location data to localize the tracking devicevia a global positioning system (GPS), the communication system beingconfigured to obtain the location data to localize the tracking devicevia an alternative localization strategy responsive to the localizationsystem being unable to obtain the location data via GPS; a second layercomprising a second circuit, the second circuit comprising an antenna,the localization system or the communication system or both beingconfigured to communicate via the antenna; and a third layer comprisinga third circuit, the third circuit comprising a power source configuredto provide power to the localization system and the communicationsystem, wherein at least a portion of the first circuit, the secondcircuit, or the third circuit are printed on a substrate using aconductive medium.
 2. The tracking device of claim 1, wherein one ofWi-Fi, Bluetooth, Radiofrequency (RF), Ultrasonic, Z-Wave, or ZigBee isused as the alternative localization strategy to obtain the locationdata.
 3. The tracking device of claim 1, wherein the location data ismeasured via received signal strength indication (RSSI), time of arrival(TOA), Angle of Arrival (AOA), time difference of arrival (TDOA), orup-link time difference of arrival (U-TDOA).
 4. The tracking device ofclaim 1, wherein the second layer comprises a flexible substrate, theantenna being printed onto the flexible substrate using the conductivemedium.
 5. The tracking device of claim 4, wherein the antenna printedonto the flexible substrate further comprises an L-shaped absence in arectangular monopole structure.
 6. The tracking device of claim 1,wherein the tracking device is configured to communicate the locationdata to a remote computing device via the communication system, theremote computing device being configured to determine a location of thetracking device based at least in part on the location data.
 7. Thetracking device of claim 6, wherein the remote computing device isfurther configured to determine the location of the tracking device by:determining at least three estimated locations of the tracking deviceagainst at least three access points; and determining a final locationof the tracking device based at least in part on the at least threeestimated locations.
 8. The tracking device of claim 1, wherein: theconductive medium further comprises nanoparticle ink; and the substratefurther comprises a flexible substrate selected from a group consistingof: a paper substrate, a plastic substrate, a silicon substrate, and apolymer substrate.
 9. A tracking device, comprising: a first circuitcomprising a localization system and a communication system, thelocalization system being configured to obtain location data to localizethe tracking device via a global positioning system (GPS), thecommunication system being configured to obtain the location data tolocalize the tracking device via an alternative localization strategyresponsive to the localization system being unable to obtain thelocation data via GPS; a second circuit comprising an antenna, thelocalization system or the communication system being configured tocommunicate via the antenna; and wherein at least a portion of the firstcircuit or the second circuit are printed on a substrate using aconductive medium.
 10. The tracking device of claim 9, furthercomprising a third circuit comprising a power source configured toprovide power to the localization system and the communication system.11. The tracking device of claim 10, wherein the first circuit is formedon a first layer, the second circuit is formed on a second layer, andthe third circuit is formed on a third layer.
 12. The tracking device ofclaim 11, wherein the second layer comprises a flexible substrate, theantenna being printed onto the flexible substrate using the conductivemedium.
 13. The tracking device of claim 12, wherein the antenna printedonto the flexible substrate further comprises an L-shaped absence in arectangular monopole structure.
 14. The tracking device of claim 9,wherein the location data is measured via received signal strengthindication (RSSI), time of arrival (TOA), Angle of Arrival (AOA), timedifference of arrival (TDOA), or up-link time difference of arrival(U-TDOA).
 15. The tracking device of claim 9, wherein the trackingdevice is configured to communicate the location data to a remotecomputing device via the communication system, the remote computingdevice being configured to determine a location of the tracking devicebased at least in part on the location data by: determining at leastthree estimated locations of the tracking device against at least threeaccess points; and determining a final location of the tracking devicebased at least in part on the at least three estimated locations. 16.The tracking device of claim 9, wherein: the conductive medium furthercomprises nanoparticle ink; and the substrate further comprises aflexible substrate selected from a group consisting of: a papersubstrate, a plastic substrate, a silicon substrate, and a polymersubstrate.
 17. A method, comprising: printing at least a portion of afirst circuit or a second circuit on a flexible substrate using aconductive medium, wherein: the first circuit comprises a localizationsystem and a communication system, the localization system beingconfigured to obtain location data to localize a tracking device via aglobal positioning system (GPS), the communication system beingconfigured to obtain the location data to localize the tracking devicevia an alternative localization strategy responsive to the localizationsystem being unable to obtain the location data via GPS; the secondcircuit comprises an antenna, the localization system or thecommunication system being configured to communicate via the antenna;and joining the first circuit and the second circuit to form thetracking device.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the conductivemedium further comprises nanoparticle ink; and the flexible substrate isselected from a group consisting of: a paper substrate, a plasticsubstrate, a silicon substrate, and a polymer substrate.
 19. The methodof claim 17, further comprising printing at least a portion of a thirdcircuit comprising a power source configured to provide power to thelocalization system and the communication system.
 20. The method ofclaim 19, wherein: the first circuit is formed on a first layer, thesecond circuit is formed on a second layer, and the third circuit isformed on a third layer; and the tracking device is formed by combiningthe first layer, the second layer, and the third layer.